


face the strange

by MinSeulgi



Series: KiHo Bingo 2017 [3]
Category: Monsta X (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), 우주소녀 | Cosmic Girls | WJSN
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Code Lyoko fusion, Fluff, KiHo Bingo, Light Angst, M/M, kinda sorta, like very very very light angst, look at the adorable puppy love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-13 19:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11192277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinSeulgi/pseuds/MinSeulgi
Summary: Not for the first time, Hoseok finds himself wondering what Kihyun would look like if he were real.





	face the strange

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third prompt for my KiHo Bingo row! The space itself is for the prompt/verse of Code Lyoko. Some liberties have been taken, and the original cast aren't present (for somewhat obvious reasons).
> 
> My soundtrack for this was Noam Kaniel's A World Without Danger. Title is taken from Good Charlotte's Face The Strange.

“What’s that?”

Hoseok glances up, eyes fixing briefly on the screen of his computer before shifting to the side. On the corner of his desk, just visible from the computer screen, is a pot of purple flowers. Hoseok stares at it for a moment, confused, then glances back to the screen.

Kihyun’s pale face stares back at him for a moment before that focus returns to the flowers. Their curiosity is tangible, brightening eyes flattened by a computer screen and showing in the pale lips parted in a muted _oh_ of surprise.

Hoseok smiles. Really, Kihyun’s just too cute sometimes. “Lavender. A pot of lavender. Jinsook decided my room needed a little color to it.”

Hoseok and Kihyun share a smile at the thought of Jinsook, all bright eyes, brighter hair, and bushy tail. As the youngest of the group of friends, she manages to have the most energy, and her boundless enthusiasm makes it hard to refuse her anything. Being the only girl in a group of overwhelmingly protective boys doesn’t help much either.

“She also said that it should help me sleep better at night,” Hoseok concludes, returning to the notebook spread out before him. Complicated equations line the pages, notes upon notes written in a neat, tiny scrawl.

“We don’t have them here,” Kihyun says, sounding almost disappointed.

Hoseok’s smile falls. “I know.”

Kihyun is silent for a moment before nodding. “You do need more sleep,” he comments at length, mulling the thought over. “You stay up late into the night, even after the others have gone to their own rooms. You don’t sleep when the others do, not even when Minhyuk or Seungcheol stay over.”

Hoseok glances to the empty bed on the far side of his room. The dorms are doubles, meant for two students to live in comfortable companionship. But after his first semester attending Sei Academy, shortly before meeting Jeonghan and Seungcheol, Hoseok’s then-roommate decided he couldn’t deal with Hoseok and the combination of his questionable waking hours and limited conversation. After a brief word with the dean, he’d moved out. Hoseok still sees Jeongmin every so often on campus, but he’s happier now with his new roommate, and Hoseok’s happier with Kihyun and the others.

“I’d like to think that’s why I don’t have a roommate,” Hoseok argues, logical to a fault. He fixes Kihyun with a toothy grin, shifting so that he can prop himself up with an elbow, palm under his chin and fingers tapping over his cheek. “Besides, now I don’t have to share you.”

If Kihyun could blush -- if a program within a computer could blush -- he would be. As it is, he ducks his head, so alarmingly human, and pushes his fingers back through his hair, pushing errant locks behind a pointed ear.

Not for the first time, Hoseok finds himself wondering what Kihyun would look like if he were real. Would his features still be as gaunt? Would his jaw be as sharp, and his ears pointed? Would his hair be brown? Would his eyes be green, or would they be brown, like Hoseok’s? How much of the avatar that Hoseok sees in the screen is the Kihyun of their world, and how much is a gift of survival from the digital world?

Whoever materialized Kihyun into Lyoko in the first place would know for sure, but Kihyun doesn’t remember who it might have been, and Hoseok has yet to find any solid leads. Seungcheol and Jinsook often look in their spare time, but none of them have found anything yet, leaving the entire group with more questions than they have answers. And really, Hoseok thinks that any clues they might find will be locked away within the digital world somewhere. It makes more sense to hide them somewhere safe – somewhere the unworthy and unknowing won’t be able to find them – rather than hiding them out in the real world.

At least, that’s what Hoseok thinks. Now he just needs to find the evidence.

“Hoseok?”

Hoseok lifts his head, offering Kihyun a confused smile. “Yes?”

Kihyun peers at Hoseok brow furrowed and lips pursed in a manner that screams worry. It makes Hoseok feel guilty, and he ducks his head away, shifting his focus back to the program he’d been working on. Kihyun is quiet for a moment more before asking, “What were you thinking about just now?”

Hoseok stills, cheeks flushing with heat. He doesn’t even know why he’s embarrassed. He just...is. “You,” he says without looking up, voice soft. He doesn’t bother to elaborate, not knowing how to explain his thoughts without feeling like a fool.

Kihyun is silent for a moment, then: “Hoseok, you—”

Hoseok’s door slams open. Jinsook is first through, eyes wide and out of breath. “We have a problem!”

Minhyuk is right behind her, looking oddly winded. There’s a bruise on the rise of his left cheek and blood trickling from a split in his lip. It looks like someone hit him, and it has Hoseok out of his seat in the space between one second and another.

“Who hit you?”

Minhyuk drags a thumb over the split in his lip before shaking his head. “Seungcheol. But that’s not the point. There’s something going on in the science wing. Someone or something broke a bunch of the beakers. Professor Kim had the wing evacuated, and as we were leaving Seungcheol...”

“Seungcheol got a face full of the fumes and punched him a moment later. Jeonghan tackled him and told us to run.”

Minhyuk’s expression is grim and Jinsook looks as if she’s going to be sick. This isn’t the first time they’ve been targeted, but it’s the first time something like this has happened, and Hoseok doesn’t blame either of them for their reactions. Hoseok glances to Kihyun before grabbing for his bag. “Sounds like Xana’s work. Kihyun, will you—”

“I’m on it.”

Kihyun disappears from the screen, and Hoseok allows himself just long enough to feel that familiar sense of _missing_ before heading for the door. “Let’s go. If it started in the science wing, the passage from the boiler room should be safe enough for the time being.”

Minhyuk runs ahead, but Jinsook stalls long enough to glance back to Hoseok, expression one of clear anxiety. “What about Jeonghan?”

Hoseok grabs her arm as he moves past, pulling her along as he slips into a jog. Jinsook keeps up with ease. Soon enough they catch up to Minhyuk who's been waiting in the stairwell to the basement level, keeping the door from closing. 

Aware that Jinsook is still waiting for an answer, Hoseok fixes her with a thin smile. “Jeonghan won't leave Seungcheol behind. That’s like asking you to leave Minhyuk.” Jinsook’s expression is one of pained understanding, and Hoseok offers Jinsook a quick squeeze of her shoulder before he heads down the stairs after Minhyuk. It’s hard sometimes, to remember that while Jeonghan, Seungcheol, and Minhyuk have been at this for a while and know the risks, Jinsook’s only been part of their adventures for a couple months. She still worries and doesn’t know how to trust that everything will be alright in the end. “It’ll be fine. They’ll both be fine. But we’ve gotta go now, alright?”

Jinsook nods. “Right!”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on twitter [@CreateTheSound](https://twitter.com/CreateTheSound)!


End file.
